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Why Is Second Language Important To Comprehend?

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Why Is Second Language Important To Comprehend?
Oftentimes, miscommunication can have severe consequences for both the patient and the doctor. A question that may rise during doctor’s visit would be “Is second language important to comprehend?” In a hospital setting, when a patient does not speak a major language used, the practitioner or admissions would assign that patient a translator to clarify the patient about their health, risks, or procedures that need to be made. Communication barriers arise when the healthcare practitioner and the patient are not communicating in a more fluent language. This paper outlines interactions between patients and healthcare providers that are not strong in the same language and do or do not share a first language. The goal is to break through language barriers and miscommunication that can occur in healthcare settings between patients and healthcare providers to a point …show more content…
When communication fails to discuss the risk there can be consequences for the patient to fail to understand the instructions they receive to make any decisions for life saving treatments. Evidence showed that miscommunication occurs when practitioners use a poorly developed second language and cannot correctly explain the circumstances and risks to the patients. More complications can arise between patients and practitioners, when patients from different cultures describe the distress and pain they are having to a practitioner. Different cultures may display their pain in a different style emotionally and mentally. When there is no sight of interpreters and the doctors lack second language skills, the patients and their families have to rely on an inexperienced bilingual medical staff that would not be able to interpret the situation well enough for the outcomes of the patient’s health and risks (Meuter, 2015,

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